Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL ( 22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930 ) was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
An absolutely fascinating man, he was a keen sportsman, amateur boxer and officiated at the world's first major bodybuilding competition. He served as a volunteer doctor in South Africa during the Boer War, was active politically and his defence of George Edalji who had been unjustly accused, led to the UK Appeals Court being set up in 1907. He also had a long-standing interest in spirituality and mysticism which carried through into his later life. He also had a wide range of other interests.
He lived at 12 Tennison Road between 1891 and 1894 and a blue plaque was erected in 1973 to commemorate this. He died of a heart attack in July 1930, having packed more into his life than a dozen people, his last words being to his wife - "you are wonderful".
